Étude du fleuve Potomac

Signed lower right: "L. A. de Cueto". Inscribed lower left: " Washington 15 junis 1855 ".  

Bibliography: Unpublished.  

Son of a military man, Leopoldo Augusto de Cueto followed a brilliant political career while also pursuing a literary activity. He held several diplomatic posts in The Hague, Lisbon and Copenhagen, before being sent as minister plenipotentiary to Washington in January 1854. It was during this period that he produced this unpublished sheet. Leopoldo Augusto de Cueto depicts the Potomac River and the city of Washington in the distance in a full moon landscape. The artist also plays with the shape of the moon by opting for a tondo format. He is fully inspired by the great tradition of the nocturnes of Adam Elsheimer or Claude Joseph Vernet. Artist, man of letters and politician, Leopoldo Augusto de Cueto was also a collector of drawings. He owned an album in which there was a leaf attributed to Juan Valdés Leal, now kept in the Academy of Seville. He was the recipient of numerous awards and medals and was a member of several academies, including that of San Fernando.